Katherine Jackson seeks new trial in AEG wrongful death case

The jury at the trial in the wrongful-death suit filed by Katherine Jackson and her grandchildren -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- found Wednesday that AEG Live LLC was not liable in the death of the pop superstar. The lawsuit had alleged that AEG negligently hired and controlled Dr. Conrad Murray, who administered a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol to Jackson shortly before he was to begin his "This Is It" comeback concerts in London.

Jeff Gottlieb

Katherine Jackson is heading back to court Friday to ask a judge for a new trial in the family's wrongful-death case against AEG Live, which previously ended with jurors finding the concert promoter not liable for her son Michael Jackson's overdose death.

Her motion came after four jurors gave sworn statements that they found the verdict form confusing.

The 12 jurors had to answer yes to five questions in order to find AEG liable.

“There is no question in my mind that AEG Live was liable,” one juror said in a declaration filed with the motion.

Another juror said, “I believed that Mrs. Jackson had proven her case against AEG Live. Despite this fact, I had no way of voting in favor of the plaintiffs because of the way the verdict form was worded.”

A third juror wrote that “some of the jurors were stunned and upset after learning that we had to stop deliberations after answering 'no' to Question 2.”

After the verdict, the jury foreman told reporters that panel members were somewhat confused by the question about Murray’s competence but understood its ramifications.

"We felt he was competent," Gregg Barden said.

"That doesn't mean we felt he was ethical. If ethical was in the question, it might have been a different outcome," the foreman said.

In a statement to The Times after the motion was filed last month, AEG attorney Marvin Putnam called it "an act of pure desperation."

"Katherine Jackson just can’t accept that her son is gone and that there is no one left that she can blame, well, aside from Dr. Murray, obviously," Putnam said. "The evidence at trial and the verdict told her just that. This long trial showed us — and her — that Michael Jackson had abused and demanded propofol, the drug that killed him, for decades."

The Jacksons argued during the five-month trial that AEG Live negligently hired and supervised Murray.

AEG said that Murray worked for Jackson and that any money the company was supposed to pay the doctor was an advance to the singer.

Putnam also noted that the juror affidavits were not admissable under California law. And even if they were, he said only two of the four jurors indicated they would have changed their answers on the forms -- not enough to change the outcome of the verdict.